Tienshanosaurus

Young, 1937 TYEN-SHAHN-o-SAWR-us Disputed

Named for the Tienshan (Tian Shan) mountain range of Xinjiang, China, combined with Greek 'sauros' meaning 'lizard'.

168.2–154.8 million years ago Bathonian–Oxfordian, Middle Jurassic–Late Jurassic

Middle Jurassic and Late Jurassic stages

Tienshanosaurus is an extinct genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of what is now China. Only one species is known, Tienshanosaurus chitaiensis, which was named and described in 1937.

Species

Tienshanosaurus chitaiensis Young, 1937 Disputed

Type species

Named for the location Chitai (also spelled Qitai) in Xinjiang, China, near where the holotype was discovered.

Holotype: IVPP AS 40002-3 , Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology
Notes: Young (1937) gives no catalog number. 40002 and 40003 are Young's locality numbers, and Young refers the material from both sites to the species, if not to one individual. The combined catalog form is the one reference works give.
Horizon: Shishugou Formation, Bathonian–Oxfordian, Middle Jurassic–Late Jurassic , 168.2–154.8 million years ago
Locality: Paikushan, Xinjiang, China Young (1937) names no formation: the bones came from a hill of sandstone "overlying immediately upon a Jurassic plant-bearing layer" about 250 li north of Chitai. Dai and colleagues (2025) list the species from the Shishugou, with no level within it.

References

Young, C. C. (1937). A new dinosaurian from Sinkiang. Palaeontologia Sinica, New Series C, Whole Series No. 132 213: 1-29. young1937a
Dai, H.; Hu, X. F.; Tan, C.; Ren, X. X.; Ma, Q. Y.; Wei, G. B.; You, H. L. (2025). A new mamenchisaurid sauropod dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic of Southwest China reveals new evolutionary evidence from East Asian eusauropods. Scientific Reports 15(1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/s41598-025-29995-z
Lists Tienshanosaurus chitaiensis among the species of the Callovian–Oxfordian Shishugou Formation.
dai2025b